America’s international cities–Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and some others–are on a roll and moving ahead in today’s booming economy, but many medium-size cities are struggling and need help.
That was the theme of the keynote speech by Andrew Cuomo, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, at the fall meeting of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) in Washington.
“You can feel the energy of resurgence in the mega-cities. The news is good. Homeownership is at its highest rate in history–67 percent. But some cities, especially in the Northeast, have been left behind. One in five U.S. cities is smaller than in 1980,” Cuomo told the 4,200 ULI members attending the meeting.
ULI is an education and research institute that studies land use and real estate development policy and practice.
“The economy is going well and we should use that strength to help the low performers rise to new heights,” Cuomo said.
Another problem area in mature cities is the inner ring of older suburbs. “They’re starting to look like the city. They don’t have the appeal of new suburbs. The crime rate is higher and they are no longer attracting the tax base they once did,” Cuomo said.
He noted that in the ’50s and ’60s the government set the pattern for growth by building roads that opened up the suburbs.
That growth continues.
“Now 7,000 acres of green space a week is being developed nationally for new homes. But we’ve run to the edge of the suburban envelope. It’s becoming too far to commute.”
He suggested that the nation should “make a U-turn on the growth of highways.”
One of the opportunities for new development would be to turn back to the cities, and government could help in that endeavor, he said:
“Let’s start to rebuild on brownfields (environmentally contaminated industrial sites in many older cities).”
HUD’s $26 billion budget for fiscal year 2000 includes $25 million for brownfields redevelopment.
Another featured speaker at the ULI meeting was Edward Yardeni, chief economist for Deutsche Bank Securities in New York. Yardeni said the good news is that many downtowns have been revitalized and global opportunities exist for real estate developers around the globe.
However, Yardeni warned of a possible recession next year caused by Year 2000, or Y2K, problems.
“The speculative bubble in the stock market could pop if global supply chains are disrupted by Y2K computer glitches. My concern is that there could be trouble overseas, possibly in such countries as Brazil, Italy, Indonesia and China. It is naive to believe that all computers on the planet will be fixed. Energy production could be a problem,” Yardeni said.
As a result, the economy could slow and the stock market, especially technology stocks, could go down to 8,000 on the Dow by March, he speculated. But the worst would be over by mid-year, and then the stock market would present buying opportunities.
Yardeni expects the Federal Reserve to make credit easier early next year.
Two of 11 Awards for Excellence presented by ULI to outstanding real estate developments were projects in Chicago.
The John Hancock Center won for the $22.5 million redevelopment by U.S. Equities Realty Inc. that enhanced the retail space, observatory, office entrances, elevator lobbies, parking and the sunken plaza on North Michigan Avenue, which includes a waterfall, shops and a restaurant.
The other local winner was the Chicago Public Schools’ capital improvement program.
The architectural firm of DeStefano and Partners leads the Education Design Group Enterprise, a management, design and engineering team responsible for implementing new construction for the $2.5 billion capital program, initiated in 1996 to address overcrowding, population shifts and major physical decay in the nation’s third-largest school system.
This year’s award winners were selected by ULI from 70 entries.
